Fuel poverty

Fuel poverty is a serious problem faced by millions of households in the UK. This paper builds on Professor John Hills' report on fuel poverty (March 2012, DECC) and the Government's proposals outlined in 'Fuel poverty: changing the framework for measurement' (Cm. 8440, Sept. 2012, ISBN 9780101844024). Section 1 provides an overview of why fuel poverty matters, revisiting Professor Hills' work which established fuel poverty as a long-term structural problem and provided a new understanding that the issue is driven not only by low income but by the characteristics of the homes in which people live. Section 2 sets out the new Low Income High Cost indicator which will be used to define the problem. Section 3 looks at what this new approach can tell about who the fuel poor are and the scale of the problems they face, and sets out guiding principles. Section 4 examines the current policy package against the new framework whilst section 5 sets out means to target those most in need and identifies short term priorities. Finally section 6 lays out the new target and its planned introduction through secondary legislation.
The aim will be to ensure fuel poor households attain a certain standard of energy efficiency in their homes as well as providing other assistance for managing bills or offering immediate help with energy bills.